Re: Wiping out brush algae

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From: psears at emr1_NRCan.gc.ca (Paul Sears)
Message-Id: <9701201837.AA07225@emr1.emr.ca>
Subject: Re: Wiping out brush algae
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 13:37:55 -0500 (EST)
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>
> * Subject: Re: Wiping out brush algae? (long)
> * From: Neil Frank <nfrank at mindspring_com>
>
>Consider CO2.
> Another nutrient which may be related to the sustenance of red algae is
>inorganic carbon. This exists in the aquarium as dissolved CO2, bicarbonate
>or carbonates. The equilibrium of these carbon species depend on pH. Free
>CO2 becomes available at pH less than 8.0 and predominates when pH is less
>than 6.5.
The CO2 concentration in the water will depend on the interaction
of the water with the atmosphere. If you have no CO2 injection system,
it will be only a few ppm, and if you inject CO2, it may be as high as twenty
or thirty ppm. The pH of the solution is irrelevant to this.
If the pH is high, it just means that there is a lot of HCO3-
in the solution _as_ _well_. There will be little CO3-- at any pH of
interest to us (below 8.5, say).
--
Paul Sears Ottawa, Canada
Finger ap626 at freenet_carleton.ca for PGP public key.